Caught The Lovebug
by mintyrolls
Summary: Mikan's never been popular; because of this, she thinks she'll never be able to receive help when she's stuck in an alleyway with a group of boys who attempt to use her—only until Natsume Hyuuga, the heartthrob of Gakuen Alice, saves her... with a kiss?
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters, and never will. :c **_

Mikan's never been popular; because of this, she thinks she'll never be able to receive help when she's stuck in an alleyway with a group of boys who attempt to use her—only until Natsume Hyuuga, the heartthrob of Gakuen Alice, saves her... with a kiss?

Enjoyy~

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I, Mikan Sakura, despise rain.

Having to wait inside of your school till the showering rain stops while everyone is under their umbrellas or wearing their coats is not something fun to watch, especially when your forgetful mind doesn't remind you to bring one in case you get cold. _Stupid mind_. The crowd of Gakuen Alice students walk in groups, under their plastic umbrellas and laughing with a smile on their face while I can't even go out and enjoy the puddles and mud, because I didn't even bring welly boots.

Just fantastic.

I puff out my cheeks, arms crossed. "Bye Mikan, see you tomorrow," my so-called 'best friend' —Hotaru Imai—hurries off, wearing her dark coat and a closed umbrella in her hand.

"N-no! Don't go, please! I'm all alo-" I plead. I become interrupted by the slam of the classroom door; without a doubt, I'm not pleased. Sure, I'm definitely not the most popular girl in my school—or in my class, for that matter—but I have friends that are there for me. Sometimes. Now all alone, I have stay in this freezing classroom with no one but myself to accompany me, now how _incredibly_ fun is that? Fun.

In the end, I gave up; the sky turned dark so I decided to make a run for it. In complete frustration, my hopeless shoes splash against the puddles and in several occasions, I've had moments where I've fallen down or tripped because my loose hair droops across my face and sticks there, like an annoying wasp. After a while of this showering rain, I give up and turn to a corner and hope that a shortcut will, with a bit of luck, do me some good; it doesn't.

Tall, lanky figures stand hovering upon me with their shadows that cast over my body like a building. I hold my breath. Worst of all, they don't look friendly at all, more like I'll-rip-your-throat-out kind of person and I'm pretty sure that's what they're aiming for because lip piercings, tattoos and holding a smashed bottle of vodka reinforce my point exactly.

My heart begins to speed, wanting me to move with all my force away from anyone from them, but I don't, because I'm stuck in a dead end with no one else to help me. No one would help me, anyway.

"What are you doing here, little girl?" one slurs, spitting in my face with the tingle of vodka.

"I-I have to go m-my father's waiting over there-" I accidently slam in to one of their chests as I attempt to get away from these...people. These very, very frightening people that stare at me with beady, desperate eyes like every other.

"I see no daddy! He's not here!" another roars, getting closer to me by the second. I flinch with caution, but at the same time, my mind goes blank with absolute horror.

Like before, the rain carries on spitting like crazy at me as if I'm a river set to be sailed with no water to float on. Oh, how I want it to end.

"Can you see dead people?" the tallest one asks me, baring his yellow teeth that have some missing in it.

"W-what?"

"I said, can you see dead people?" he violently snarled at me, grabbing my school collar and bringing me closer. "Answer me!" he yells, spitting in my face with the taste of whiskey lingering on my skin. His strong, alcohol breath sickens me, mainly because of the strong feeling of it. No, he didn't just take a glass or two—he probably drank a few bottles. I don't answer his question and stay silent throughout his whole fuming of rage.

The shortest one, a few inches taller than my height, grabs my shoulders and holds me against the wall; the increase of pressure in his hands enables me from wriggling free and getting away. The other two just give a laugh and walk away. "We'll see ya' later, aye?" they say together.

My eyes tear up, watering and drowning my eyes so much that I have so much that I have to close them to make sure they're not visible. "Now then, little girl, haven't you gotten yourself in to quite a mess?" My eyes flutter open, and notice he's probably the only normal one in the gang. He has shaggy blonde hair, caramel-brown eyes that stare in to mine and two hands gripping on to my shoulders. No piercings, no tattoos and no drinking bottles. Nothing.

His fingers lace around my school tie, pulling it off and exposing my neck. My fingers go numb.

"A-ah, stop, please-"

He throws it to the ground and begins unbuttoning my school blouse, as I attempt to pull away. "Stop fidgeting, retard!" he shouts even though I don't.

I feel weak, numb and useless without being able to help myself get away. My heart pounds like crazy in its terrified state and the adrenaline tingles through my body.

Then, I see eyes. Not just any eyes. Rare, crimson-coloured eyes that even in darkness, shine out and is able to be seen. The eyes come nearer and soon enough, parts of the body become visible and I see his whole face despite the limited light in the streets. Worst of all, I know this boy.

Natsume Hyuuga. You'd think I should be happy, finally being saved by someone other than myself, but I'm not. Hyuuga and I don't get along as well as you'd think we do, and in fact, we're enemies. Why? Because we're on the opposite end of the rope.

You see, he could be called the King Bee around Gakuen Alice and get away with it, because in fact, he practically is—rich parents, a model for a sister, and he's just plain _hot_ (you can get anywhere if you're good looking). Give him a feature that the nerdiest person in school has, and he'll make it look cool. I, on the other, not so much. Geeky could perhaps describe me, but it's not like I'm the school's biggest nerd or anything, I'm just plain and simple when it comes to looks.

Not that it matters to me, anyway.

Hyuuga quickly shoves the blonde away from me, tugs me from the waists and reels me in for a kiss. After he pulls away, the taste of his lips linger on my lips and I feel a tingle in my spine with what just happened—did _the _Natsume Hyuuga just kiss me? Strangely, I feel like I'm in a dream. Why would he want to have anything to do with me, of all people?

"Babe, are you okay?" he asks me, forehead touching mine gently. Babe?

"I-I don't know..." I pant, lost for words. He nods and removes his gaze from mine to the blonde, eyebrows arched.

"What did you do to my girlfriend?" My spins around like a blackhole I can't escape from. Babe? Girlfriend? I can't see where this is all going.

"G-girlfriend? Oh, I didn't know she had a boyfriend, I'm s-sorry-" With no hesitation, Hyuuga picks the blonde by his collar and gives him a punch right across his cheek. It begins to form a nasty bruise and I immediately grab Hyuuga's hand, motioning for him and me to leave as soon as possible in case other people see and try to get involved.

Entwining his fingers around mine, we walk off and escape the corner of the alleyway and into the main street where our fingers part. "What the absolute _hell_ were you thinking of, Polka?" That was the name he gave me since fourth grade based on the pattern of my panties. He probably reckons I still wear them today, too!

"One, I was thinking maybe a shortcut could do me some good since it was raining and I had no coat or umbrella, and two, don't shout at me like that!" I respond harshly, arms crossed and my hands curled in to fists. He takes my wrists and pulls my arms out so they're by my sides, and begins to button my blouse again.

His eyes turn gentle, though still a little stern.

"C'mon, I'll walk you back home. I don't want you doing anything even more stupid today." He takes off his jacket, hands it over to me and shares his umbrella. My cheeks redden slightly, but the darkness hides it away.

His coat has such a strong, manly scent on it that I'm not sure whether to be pleased or unpleased about. Though of all uncertainty, I think I like it.

Although my house isn't too far away from the place we're walking from, the moment we walk together feels like a century when there's no talking to be heard. The silence is awkward and irritating to a certain extent, but I feel like all the words have already slipped out of my mouth the moment he saved me.

"Soo..." I say, breaking the silence between us.

"What?" he replies coldly, without even looking at me.

"Nothing, I just wanted to start a conversation."

"Why would you want to do that?"

"Because this silence is annoying! I hate it when things are awkward!" I shout with a sudden outburst.

"But I thought you hated me..."

"I do." Hyuuga raises an eyebrow, completely confused but makes a decision to shrug off the matter and stop talking to me about it. "I don't have to, though..." I mumble quietly under my breath, making sure he doesn't hear. Whether he does or doesn't though I can't tell, because his eyes are transfixed straight forward to where we're walking and even though we've been enemies since fourth grade, that doesn't mean we haven't been to each other's houses before.

Our mums are best friend, unluckily. They have occasional outings, and even at my current age of sixteen years old, they've forced us to go to one of our houses whenever they're out. But we don't actually interact with each other, because he'll probably lounge by the coach watching TV and I'll be on the computer, as far away from him as possible.

We're always like that. Ignoring each other, that is. For the whole of our lives, we've been stuck on the opposite ends of the rope and because of this, tried our best to stay away from getting involved with each other as much as possible. That hasn't been working out as well as we've thought, lately.

"I don't know why I saved you," he says to me, eyes facing towards the rocking pavement he's walking on. His mouth opens, but there's a pause between his words. "I don't know why I kissed you either; it was all natural instinct."

I give a shaky laugh and say, "Hyuuga, would you really not save a girl who was stuck in an alleyway, about to get raped? Of course it was natural, who wouldn't try to do at least _something_?"

"That's not what I meant." I want to question his words even further, but I feel like he would've told me if he wanted to, so I stay silent as a response. "Was I a good kisser?" he smirks, just as my mouth falls half open in shock. The blood rushes to my cheeks and they turn scarlet with embarrassment.

"Shut up."

"No denial there, I like it." I nudge him lightly in the stomach, and he does so back.

After a while of talking, we arrive at my house and I notice his jacket still around me. Just as I reach in to take it off, he stops me. "You can return it tomorrow at school, I don't mind." My eyebrows form an arch in disbelief at his comment.

"Really? Won't you be embarrassed what your little posse will think of you if I come over to you and give it back?"

"No," he says. "I don't care."

With that, he leaves without another word—but I _swear _I can see the faintest smile appear on his lips.

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I'll do my best to make the next chapter longer! (:

Click that little review button and make my day, pleeeasseee? ;D

I hope you enjoyed, and have a nice day!


	2. Chapter 2

**_Disclaimer: Do not own._**

Oh my god, you guys are all amazing. Your reviews made me so happy and I wish I could just hug you all! /hugs all virtually c:

And the reply to I love you – Flower's question will be in the chapter! :D

Enjoy!~

**They say that when you sneeze, people are talking about you.**

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_Achoo! _I sneeze with quite the startle, having caught the fever from yesterday's immediate yet unexpected sudden rainfall. Although my head is pounding like crazy and my throat feels like there is five different butcher knives heaved down it, I'm still unfortunately forced to come to school because it is the last day. Although Gakuen Alice last days are quite the contrary to movies like High School Music, they are still definitely fun, just not jump-on-tables-dance-like crazy kind of fun.

It's my fifth period—also known as my last—and throughout the whole seven hours of school I have been in so far, not one of them have I even been able to absorb any of the moaning or talks that the teachers have droned on about. Not that it'll actually be any important, anyway. My head continuously throbs and I'm forced to keep on blowing my nose with a tissue that has been reused by me almost a hundred times.

Just another reason to hate rain, right? Correct.

The clock ticks with a horrible, loud sound. We just watch it with an intense stare, looking at the seconds arrow furiously ticking away like crazy. Just a few more seconds and the bell will go. _5. 4. 3. 2. 1._

Everyone screams. Our teacher laughs and dismisses us from the classroom, telling us to have a good summer break and I can obviously see that she's pretty pleased herself—but then again, it's summer, who wouldn't be? I throw my bag over my shoulder but remember to have the handle to my other bag clutching on to my wrist, containing the jacket that Hyuuga leant me.

_Hyuuga._

Oh, wow. Yesterday feels like such a blur compared to today and worst of all, it doesn't feel real at all and I probably wouldn't believe it if I didn't have his jacket with me. I mean, why would he kiss a girl like me? A plain, simple, boring girl who should not have anything to do with him. No, I shouldn't, so I still don't understand why I'm even bothering to go up to him and offer it back when I could have just done that yesterday night. _Achoo!_

Alice Diner is the one place that everyone—who is anyone—has to go after the last day of school. It's quite traditional and you probably will never see more than five empty tables on a Friday evening. Today it's even worse; loads of students are left without tables to sit in so a massive queue is held up. I, on the other hand, manage to get in early and take a table with Anna, Nonoko and Hotaru. We all sit down, order and begin to talk.

"I'm going to Hawaii!" squeals Nonoko in extreme delight; she claps her hands with a feminine squeak. "It's going to be amazing."

"You're all lucky, I'm not going anywhere. Stuck at home this year." The three of them give a shaky but pitiful laugh directed to me and give me a pat on the shoulder.

"It's fine, Mikan. We'll be loners together, because I'm not going on holiday either," Hotaru says, blankly like always.

"But aren't you-" Anna pauses, mid-sentence. Her mouth gapes open and I see the drool almost trailing down her tongue, eyes clearly darted at a figure behind mine. "I think Natsume's walking towards us!" No way; not possible. Not in this century, anyway. "Never mind, he wasn't, it's just probably my mind playing tricks with me today."

"I wish he was, though..." Nonoko mumbles, hands cupping her cheeks.

"That would just be _amazing_. Picture this. He comes over and says your name, and asks you to be his girlfriend out in the public. Now, wouldn't that be just the most amazing thing you could ever experience?" With her eyes in a daydream, Anna's eyes glitter and her mouth stays open in delight.

"Sounds like a fanfiction you would write, Anna..." Hotaru reminds her as we all laugh.

"But, just _one _problem. He would never do that, not with his personality anyway. He's more of the cool, bad boy type that doesn't speak very much. What are the chances of announcing that, all of a sudden, out in the public with hundreds of people watching?"

_Achoo!_ I sneeze again.

"Bless you. You never know, Nonoko! Now stop complaining and just accept that there's a possibility of one of us going out with him!" _Not me_.

Nonoko smiles devilly. "Now imagine _this_. How do we know someone we know really well hasn't kissed him already?"

_Achoo!_ Again, really?

"Bless you. Whoa. I never thought of that."

I feel my lips tingling all over again, bringing in the same chocolate taste that his lips brought me. I feel a warm shiver travel down my spine and my cheeks turn to scarlet with, not only embarrassment, but unexpected shock. "I-I need to go to the bathroom, I'll be right back," I say, only partly lying. I do need to go the bathroom, but only to cool down.

The cubicles are all empty and with no one else in here, surprisingly. I walk over to the mirrors and cup my reddened cheeks with my warm hands. For a while, I stay like that until I suddenly realize the bag for Hyuuga's jacket is wrapped around my wrist.

I want to go and give it to him.

The bathroom doors fling open and close with a quiet nose, but with my sweaty palms, I feel like they're two tons of titanic boats to push along an ocean. Making sure Hotaru, Anna and Nonoko aren't facing my way, I walk my way over to Hyuuga's table. It's the size of five different tables put together, with one side all boys and the other all girls. Being the busiest and biggest table doesn't surprise me at all!

_Don't do it, Mikan. Just give it to your mum and she can give it to his mum afterwards. _My mind thinks.

Meanwhile, my heart thinks differently as my feet carries me to their table and before I know it, I tap Hyuuga's shoulder. "Hyuuga."

His hair whips around, crimson-eyes gazing in to mine, softening a little, only until a few seconds after they stern up.

His eyebrows form an arch as I hold out the bag and put it in front of him.

"What's this?" he asks, almost pushing it away as my heart begins to pound almost so hard I feel like it's going to pound out of my chest. Does he not remember? Or is he_ trying _not to remember? He said he didn't care about me giving it back to him and the embarrassment he could take, so then why act so clueless now?

"Your jack-"

"I don't want it," he interrupts me. What?

Amused eyes stare behind Hyuuga, looking at me pitifully and scan me with their eyes up and down, showing a slight frown between their lips. One of Hyuuga's stalkers, Sumire, has her lips formed in to a smug smirk that I almost imagine myself shoving down her throat and chocking her. "Didn't you _hear_ me? I said-"

"I know what you said." But I don't take the jacket back.

"Natsume's got some obsessed stalker!" Mochu, the ignorantly stupid one shouts as he stands up and throws his arms in the air. I pull a face at him until Ruka tugs at his shirt and pulls him down back in to his seat, shooting a glare at his comment.

"She's a girl, leave her alone, Mochu. That's just low..." he mumbles under his breath, but still loud enough for us to hear. I ignore them both, and Natsume does too.

"Then take it," he says to me, eyes calm and neutral. That softening aspect of them disappeared a while ago—a few seconds after he saw me, actually. "I don't like repeating myself. Take it, Polka, and leave me the hell alone." My blood boils with rage.

"You want me to take it?" I say, arms crossed until I reach out for the hem of the bag. "Sure." But then, I grab his glass of diet coke. Sumire's eyes widen and I grin, looking back at her with a gleam in one eye.

My hand not only tips the diet coke on to his jacket—his $189 Abecrombie and Fitch jacket, may I remind you—but also his head. His wet, soaking with diet coke head. His poor, pretty head full of hair that drips and soaks with the dark, strong-smelling liquid. Everyone around me has their mouth wide open in disbelief, except myself. I raise my hand to slap him, but resist the urge in case I might be going too far.

"That's Mikan!" Nonoko whispers, yet loud enough for me to hear.

"That's what you get when you lie to _me_!" I shout, storming out of the diner, with eyes all on me. The waiters and waitresses have frozen to look at me, dishes mid-air.

I don't cry, my eyes don't water and my face doesn't go puffy with the extreme amount of tears because I'm not upset. I'm just angry and embarrassed. I'm frustrated and want to scream at a wall.

Immediately, I go straight home and hope for comforting words from my mum—I mean, who else would I go to? Not that I have any siblings to comfort me and my very own father has left us for a whole six months straight for a stupid business trip. My family sucks, sometimes.

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I'm welcomed with a lecture from my own mother, who doesn't seem to be on my side. "Mikan Sakura Yukihara! I absolutely _cannot _believe your behaviour; did you really think throwing a litre of diet coke down Natsume-kun's head would really solve your problems? Why didn't you _talk_ to him?" Ahh. So I see that Hyuuga has already snitched to his mother about our little problem. "I'd like an answer, thank you very much!"

I sit down on a kitchen chair and wrap my arms around my knees, burying my head between them. "I'm not going to talk to that low-life jerk, he lied to me!" I say with a muffled voice.

"How? Why?" I don't answer, until my head rises from my knees as something is knocked against them with a light tap. It's my iPhone. "Go call him and apologize."

"Mum, he made a complete fool out of me out in the diner! Why the hell would I want to do that?" I see my own mother's disappointed and apologetic face that just makes me go up and hug her, even though I don't. For a moment or two, I feel like she feels slightly ashamed to have such an unforgiving daughter. "Fine."

I put the phone neatly in my hand, and dial the phone number as my mum gives me a piece of paper with his number on it. It rings and rings, until I hear a deep voice on the other side. "Hello?"

"Hey."

"Polka?"

"I called you to say sorry." There's a pause between my sentence until I suddenly interrupt and say, "I'm sorry that you're suck an asshole who kisses a girl like it's worth nothing and promises that he won't be embarrassed by her, but actually does later on!"

"I wasn't embarrassed!" he shouts through the other line.

"Then what?"

"I...you just came at the wrong time to talk to me, that's all. I mean, there was everyone watching and-"

"_See_!"

"It's not _my_ fault you're so sensitive, and by the way, I didn't promise anything!"

"Oh—just—go and do whatever you, want, prick!"

"But, Mikan, I like-"

I end the call with a click of a button and throw the phone across the tiled floor, smashing it with a loud sound. It cracks in pieces, shards of glass flying everywhere and worst of all, I know I'm going to be unable to get a new one with my current allowance. Mum stands next to me, arms crossed in rage and nostrils flared. Her forehead is creased; something about it all just makes me think she's not the _most_ pleased woman in the world.

"You two are _so_ immature!" she shouts, pointing a finger up the staircase—meaning I need to go to my room. I do as I'm obediently told and feel the guilt weighing up inside me, not for Natsume, for my mum who had to buy that iPhone for me.

I stay silently in my room, head buried in my knees until I hear footsteps coming walking up the staircase and the creak to my door startles me slightly, as I whip my head up and see a suitcase unpacked in front of my mother as she dumps it in my room.

"Pack your stuff, Mikan. You're moving in with the Hyuuga family for the month."

I feel my heart drop like there's a ton of bricks being weighed down on it.

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Mikan's mummy is awesome. c:

Press that little review button down there and make my day? I promise I'll update faster and make longer chapters if you do :D


	3. Chapter 3

_**Disclaimer: Do not own.**_

I will never be able to thank my reviewers and readers enough. All those reviews made me so happy and eager to write more so here we are!

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Picture this: you are in a blackhole and don't know anything about your surroundings—perhaps you are in hell, perhaps you are not. It is dark; you meet no one that cares about you enough to help you on your journey to escape this blackhole.

Well frankly, I can honestly say this is my current situation right now. Not that I'm in an actual blackhole of course, I was just saying that out of a metaphorical sense to prove a point. But if you were in my position, you'd definitely see why I'm saying this.

I am stuck at the Hyuuga residence, for a month; all because my own mother decides to leave me here and all because of a stupid business trip that she could have brought me all along! "No, Mikan, I don't have another ticket and it's far too short notice!" she said to me, stubbornly as possible as I flung my arms in the air and groaned in agony.

Not only has my mum betrayed me, but so has my dad as he has completely supported my mum and decided to 'take responsibility as her husband and join her just to secure her safety and well-being'. Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is what I'd like to call lies. They're just trying to shove me off to another household just because they're tired of having me around, of course—even if they so obviously deny it.

The Hyuugas' house—more like _mansion_—scares me, slightly. It's big and you can get lost in so easily, unless directed to your destination by a maid. Despite all of that, not any of the Hyuugas brag or boast about it, and they're all actually quite modest. "Our house is tiny!" they'd say to us whenever we'd proclaim our jealousy before them.

With fifty different buttons in front of me, I press one of them and stand upon the mansion gates, a shadow hovering above my body like a statue. "Hello, may I please ask who this is?" a voice asks through one of the buttons, though I'm unsure as to which one.

"U-um, Mikan Sakura," I reply, palms sweating crazily as I release my suitcase on to the ground. The silver, metallic gates open wide and several maids come bursting out, grabbing my luggage and taking it inside with no haste. "I-it's okay, I can do it myself-"

"Don't worry about it Ms. Sakura, Mrs. Hyuuga said to do it for you since you're probably really tired right now!" the maids say in unison, bowing and leaving the gates open for me to walk through. I quickly walk on the stone path and greet the maids who wait for me at the front door. They're all dressed in neat, white aprons with a dark blue dress underneath that comes down to their knees.

Kaoru Hyuuga, the mother of the household, comes running down the golden carpet and flings her arms around my neck, hugging me extremely tightly, almost so tight I feel no air being exchanged in and out of my lungs. She finally pulls away and even though I'm flushed pink and panting, she takes a good look at me with the same crimson-coloured eyes that I came across a few days ago and strokes my hair gingerly.

Her long, jet-black hair stays behind her shoulders gracefully; her scarlet-coloured lips stay pursed together but slightly extended to show a small smile and despite her age, Mrs. Hyuuga has to be one of the classiest women I have ever come across. She doesn't need orange skin or to cake her face in make up in order to look beautiful, she's got it naturally.

"My, my, how much you've grown since the last time I've seen you!" she says, taking in a deep breath and releasing after a few seconds. Her hand parts from my head and she takes a hold of my shoulders.

"Mrs. Hyuuga, that was a week ago," I respond with a shaky laugh as she does the same.

"Ah, I'm sorry about that Mikan darling, my memory flies by sometimes!" Mrs. Hyuuga's eyes dart up and down, examining and trying to work out all the differences from the last time she had seen me and gives me a big smile. Her hands swing back to her sides and she walks me to my new bedroom.

Half of it is creamy-white, while the other half is pastel blue and decorated with the outline of sea waves. There's also a balcony that leads out to a view of the closest beach and I feel my heart leaping out and doing somersaults out of joy and happiness. Although our house is big, it's definitely nothing compared to all of this! "This might take a while to get used to, Mrs. Hyuuga!" I giggle, eyeing the curtains and daring to touch them with my not-so-clean hands.

"Oh, everything will become familiar to you after a few days, don't worry about it at all!" I nod at her response and spread myself out across the cornflower blue bed. It's decorated with several different patterned anchors at the bottom and one way or the other, I feel like I'm in an imaginary ocean and ready to be carried away by the tide.

My imagination becomes perfect; I can just lie here forever and not have any worries. Perhaps I can have a rest for an hour or two, maybe three if I'm lucky and I can just go out to the beach later on with Nonoko and Anna, maybe Hotaru if she's willing to come although she probably won't, knowing her attitude. We could all go shopping after that and it'll all be perfect—

"Mum! I heard Polka is staying at our house, what's that all about?"

—or maybe not.

_His_ voice carries on trailing after Mrs. Hyuuga as she opens the door to his face and I feel my eyelids fluttering open, although one takes longer than the other out of fatigue. I pull myself out of the bed and limp behind her, not wanting to face _him_. "Yeah she is, why?" Mrs. Hyuuga replies, sitting on a chair by my desk.

"Just... just wondering," he says, though the wavering and uncertainty in his voice doesn't make me too sure if he's telling the truth. "Where is she?"

"Right behind me." Hyuuga takes a peek behind his mum's back and finds my stiff body, tensed up and arms crossed. I'm not sure what I see in his eyes, a bit of shock, joy and disappointment? Those three do not add up very well.

"W-wow, never thought I'd see you here," he says, arms spread out wide and gesturing motions.

"I come here every weekend, idiot. Not this week though, I'm staying the whole _month_," I complain. Hyuuga's mouth turns wide and so does his eyes, he turns to look at his mother for confirmation and she nods out of approval. His hands are raised by his chest as if to transmit a message to her saying, '_What? Why? How did I not get told anything about this?_'

"Natsume Hyuuga, now what did I say about being too happy in the morning? I can see you're jumping with joy but it's the morning, stop being so happy about it! Just... chill out," Mrs. Hyuuga sarcastically says, laughing. Natsume raises his eyebrows and crosses his shoulders to show no humour about her so-called 'joke'. "All jokes aside however, Yuka is out on a business trip to America and can't bring Mikan, so she thought that staying here would be a great place for her to stay, seeing as you li-"

"Mu—um!" Hyuuga shouts with a raised voice.

"What? What's going on?" I ask, uncertain of what they're talking about.

"Nothing," Hyuuga replies, face sterner than ever.

"I-I'll leave you two to be, okay?" Mrs. Hyuuga says, leaving out the room in silence as an awkward tension fills the room. Minutes and seconds pass as neither of us talks.

"I bet you can't stand this," I say with a shaky laugh, head down and my back leaning against the creamy white walls. He sits down by me and shrugs.

"I don't mind, personally."

"Well, that's a surprise. Why?"

"You want to know why?" I nod; he takes a deep breath in and releases after a few seconds. "I've been trying to tell you this, but-"

"Natsume! It's almost ten o'clock, your shift starts soon!" Mrs. Hyuuga's voice booms above ours. I can hear Hyuuga's small, quiet voice cursing under his breath, yet it's still loud enough for my sensitive ears to hear, I pretend to ignore it.

"Shift? What shift?" I ask him as he sighs.

_**.**_

"I can't believe you have a summer job!" I exclaim, laughing hysterically and clutching my stomach tightly with my arms.

I never thought to see the day that _the_ Natsume Hyuuga works as a_ waiter_ at a summer resort. Never. Of course, he told me that his mum made me him do it but do you know what I think? I think that's a _lie_ because strangely, the Hyuuga family own that summer resort. Why would he need to work there if his parents own the place?

"God, calm down! It's not like I told you the world's greatest joke so stop laughing. I have a normal life, believe it or not." I see a smirk forming on his lips. "Plus, mum told me to remind you that you need to get a summer job as well—preferably at the resort so looks like we're on the same level here."

My mouth gapes open and I look at Mrs. Hyuuga who's sitting in the front seat, comfortable and daydreaming like there's no tomorrow. She can't possibly do that, right? Of course not. "It's not a lie Mikan. You can't be staying at home the whole of this summer break so why not have half of it working with some of your friends at a resort?"

"Correction, _Natsume's_ friends. They're probably going to hate me!" I grumble, looking out of the car window in dismay. I begin to realize that the further we are from that house, the sunnier it begins to get.

"Come on, Mikan, just give it a go! I'm sure Natsume will escort you round and teach you everything, won't you?" she says, as Natsume rolls his eyes and mouths me a 'fine'. "That's the spirit, kids! Now, I'll make sure there's an open spot for you and you'll get started right away." She pulls over and we all get out of her white BMW six series convertible in front of a large, mansion-like reception. It has glass windows and creamy white sofas, chairs and wallpaper.

"Hello and welcome to the Hyuuga Springs Summer Resort, how can I help—oh! Mrs. Hyuuga, how do you do on this fine evening? I never thought I'd see you here, today!" a blonde in her mid-twenties comes over to us and exclaims, pen behind her ear.

"Ah well, Akira, they say to expect the unexpected. Now then, I'm here because I'd like to employ Mikan here for a job available in the Resort. What's available?" 'Akira' shifts a little in her two inch platforms and over to the computer behind the reception, where she stabs at the keyboard and a list appears before her.

"Ah, well... you're in for some luck. We only have two jobs left for now and that is either working as a waitress at the cafe or we have a female spot available as a lifeguard. What do you say, Mikan?"

Although I've always loved water and swimming, I've never thought about becoming a lifeguard; for me, becoming a waitress seems more realistic. I can't see myself saving other people's lives and telling others off for things they shouldn't be doing—that's just not... _Mikan,_ enough.

"I'll take up the waitress offer," I say with a big smile.

"Fantastic! You'll be joining Natsume then!" Mrs. Hyuuga says coincidentally, beaming happily. I freeze, my stomach churning crazily. "Alright, I'll leave now but I'll keep the car at the car park and leave the keys with Natsume so whenever you want to leave, he can just drive you both home, is that okay?" I nod with a blank expression on my face.

Mrs. Hyuuga leaves to go the hot springs and Natsume just stands in front of me, hands in pockets while wearing a smug smirk across his face. "You did that on purpose just so you could be with me," he puts it bluntly, like it's no big deal. I arch an eyebrow until I crack up laughing and blow a raspberry in his face.

"It was an accident, I swear!" I say, face-palming with one hand. But it truly was an accident because why would I want to spend more than half of my lovely summer break having to deal with the guy I hate most?

"Of course it was," Hyuuga replies, pulling off a grin and pretending to believe me as we begin to walk out of the reception and in to the cafe, located right next to the pool.

"But I-"

"Natsume!" a loud voice booms, rushing down and giving him a high-five. "I haven't seen you for so long, man! How have you been doing?"

When I look up from the tiled, marble floors to see what's going on; I see a male figure who's possibly of the our age, but slightly shorter. His dark and shaggy hair remains in his face and above all, stands out his darker shade of emerald-green eyes. After a few second worth of talking, the figure takes a peek at me and gives a point with his index finger as if to say, '_Who's she?_'

"Oh, Youichi, this is Mikan Sakura. Our parents know each other and—" Hyuuga hesitates, unsure whether to tell him about my little stay or not (though, it's not going to be very little).

"And?"

Natsume freezes in place, thinking of words to say.

"...and our parents decided it'd be good if we worked together at the resort because we're childhood friends and all," I continue the sentence for Hyuuga, plastering a fake smile to my face and ignoring Hyuuga's face which I can hardly read. Technically, I didn't lie; it's all true.

"Are you a couple now or something?"

"N-no! Just friends!" Hyuuga and I deny, hands frantically waving about in the air. Now, that was a lie, since we're not even friends at that matter; it's better to say _enemies_.

"Oh, okay then."

"Polka, this is Youichi. His parents are the CEO of Starbucks so he was immediately offered the job as being the head of the Hyuuga Springs Resort Cafe Manager, and he gladly accepted." Youichi and I nod as a greeting and one question pops up in my mind: do_ all_ of the people who work here have rich parents? I really hope not, being the odd one out is probably going to be quite awkward for me.

"The cafe's finished refurbishing and it's now moved next to the pool so people can order and we can take it to them there, and since neither of you know where it is, both of you can come with me." We obediently follow him and we're taken to a large but empty coffee shop that has a similar style to Costa or Starbucks.

The room gives off a heavenly yet bittersweet scent of chocolate and I feel so vintage walking in such a plain and ordinary room. There are brown and white walls, glass doors and the cakes placed on the counter just make me squirm inside out of happiness and my hands grab out to reach one—

"_Youichi_! Where's Natsume? You clearly said that he'll be arriving soon and soon in your world is like waiting a century!" I know that high-pitched, feminine squeak anywhere. _Permy _(or commonly called Sumire). "Ah, there you are, now where is my honey boo boo—Natsume! There you are!" The annoying perm-head flings her arms around the poor boy and squeezes him tightly, her dagger-like nails digging in to his skin despite wearing three different layers. "I missed you so much, darling!"

"Ah, nice to see you too, Perm—I mean Shouda." Hyuuga pushes her away, dusting off his shoulders and pulling a sick face just as she turns around. Permy takes her turn towards her 'gang' (with Wakako being the only one I'm familiar with) and flips her hair towards me, eyeballing at my presence.

"What's she doing here, Natsume?" Permy flinches, eye twitching and arms crossed.

"_Surprised_, perm-face?" I say, grinning wildly.

"Alright, if he's not going to answer my question, why don't you?" she asks, Wakako trailing and nodding away behind her like a lost puppy.

"I don't have to do anything you tell me to." Permy widens her mouth and raises both her eyebrows, not understanding the fact that not everyone is going to love and want to be her. But after all, we _are_ talking about Permy. She stomps back in to the staff room with her clique and Youichi rolls his eyes, leading us in to where she went, where a group of teenagers our age stay lounged on the couches, drinking coffee and smiling as we all walk in. Besides Sumire, Wakako and Ruka (who looks straight at me and nods), everyone seems to be unfamiliar.

"So this is the little doll we were notified was coming!" a pink-head giggles, coming over to me and pinching my cheeks. Her medium-length, choppy hair stays by her shoulders and she twirls a finger round one, crouching down to be at level with me.

"She's not eleven, Harada, leave her alone," Hyuuga says, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Ooh, a little protective are we, Natsume?" I blush slightly. "She's going red! She's going red, she's going red!" Misaki exclaims, pointing to my cheeks.

"I-I'm not!" Misaki laughs and pushes me lightly to all the others.

"C'mon, I'll introduce you to everyone." She scoots over to where I am, and points a finger. "On the left side, there's Sumire, Wakako, and Luna. On the right, there's Koko, Kitsuneme and Ruka," she says, pointing to each person though for some people, I don't need an introduction.

"Nice to meet you all. I'm—"

"Mikan Sakura, we know," Koko says, though not impolitely; he smiles and walks up to shake my hand.

"So, what's the relationship between you and Natsume?" Kitsuneme laughs. Natsume and I glance at each other, rolling our eyes as if to say, '_Oh, if only you knew_!'

**.**

"Alright, Mikan, you're about to do your first shift! Go up to table two—the one next to the pool—and just hand them this bottle of water. That's it!" Misaki says, handing me a bottle of water and glass. "Good luck!" I nod, inhaling heavily and getting myself prepared. My uniform is spot on and I begin to tell myself that it's going to be okay._ I can do this_.

I begin to stroll over casually, taking small steps with my flip-flops and reach table two with my heart almost pounding out of my chest. I think it's almost over, but I'm proven wrong; still with the drink in my hand, Permy knocks me over by putting her foot in front of mine and before I know it, my feet slip and the drinks fall out of my hand, god knows where.

After a few minutes, all I hear is several screams, the loud noise of a glass shattering to pieces and the buzzing of chatter until my body plummets to what seems like the bottomless pit of the pool, watching a pair of eyes dive in the water after me—eyes that are not Hyuuga's or anyone familiar to me.

* * *

Hehe, hope you guys enjoyed!

And before I finish this chapter, I'd like to give a message to pinkpocket23: I'm so happy you reviewed my story, you are my role-model and I love your stories so much! :)

To all my readers, have a nice day and thanks to those who review because it does mean a lot!

The person at the end isn't an OC, by the way. :3


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